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Norwegian general

Fleischer was born in Bjørnør Rectory (now Roan) in Sør Trøndelag as the son of the Church of Norway pastor Carl Edvard Fleischer (1843–1885) and Johanne Sophie Fergstad (1850–1926). Fleischer moved with his mother to grow up in Trondheim. His childhood home was one characterized by Christianity, simplicity and frugality. His ancestors had migrated from Elbing in East Prussia to Norway, first with Tobias Fleischer (1630–1690) who found a position in Kongsberg. The current lineage is descended from Tobias' nephew Herman Reinhold Fleischer (1656–1712), who also had notable children in Denmark. Carl Gustav Fleischer was a descendant of Herman's son Philip Johan Fleischer (1699–1763). Notable relatives include Philip's brother Baltzer Fleischer and grandnephew Palle Rømer Fleischer, and Carl Gustav's brother, bishop Andreas Fleischer. Carl Gustav Fleischer was also a more distant relative of Carl August Fleischer, Nanna Fleischer, Agnes Fleischer and August Fleischer. In his spare time Fleischer enjoyed watercolor painting and trout fishing.

Motivated by economic uncertainties, Fleischer joined the Norwegian Military Academy and graduated as the second best student in 1905. In 1940, following the German invasion of Norway General Fleischer was appointed commander in chief of the Norwegian armed forces in North Norway. Due to the extreme weather Fleischer could not leave Vadsø either by Hurtigruten ship or naval aircraft, and had to stay overnight. County Governor of Finnmark Hans Gabrielsen invited Fleischer to stay at the governor's mansion. After discussing the situation with Gabrielsen, Fleischer managed to set off for Tromsø the next day, arriving there by M. F.11 naval aircraft after flying in terrible conditions. From Tromsø he issued orders for a total civilian and military mobilization and declared Northern Norway a theatre of war.

During his exile in the United Kingdom, General Fleischer quickly built up a Norwegian infantry brigade based in Dumfries, Scotland, from June 1940. However, he soon got at odds with the Norwegian political leadership in exile due to his strong headed attitudes and unwillingness to compromise. He also became controversial in factions of the cabinet due to his support of British commando raids on the Norwegian coast, even stating his willingness to personally participate in the attacks on the German occupying forces in Norway. This post had existed temporarily during the 1940 campaign, but General Otto Ruge, who had been commander in chief during the campaign, stayed in Norway and surrendered with his troops. Instead of Fleischer, the cabinet promoted Major Wilhelm von Tangen Hansteen, the young defence attaché in Helsinki, Finland directly to general and gave him the post. He also inspected the Norwegian forces based on Iceland.

On 1 December 1942, General Fleischer was ordered to the position of military attaché to Washington, D. C. This was another obvious humiliation, since usually officers of the ranks of major or lieutenant colonel served in this role. Being too much for him to swallow, he shot himself with his own gun through the heart on 19 December 1942. He was found by his adjutant Lieutenant Richard Brinck Johnsen, who brought the urn with the General's ashes to London in a Liberator aircraft. In London Brinck Johnsen was ordered to keep the circumstances of Fleischer's death secret. Only in 1995 did Brinck Johnsen speak out, stating that in his opinion Fleischer had taken his own life in sorrow of being set aside and not being needed by anyone. Still disputed today, it is thought that one of the reasons for sending him to Canada was that he favoured a series of coastal raids against Norway to hamper German use of the occupied nation. Fleischer also wanted to build substantial army forces abroad and employ them in active operations against the German occupying forces in Norway, something that was in direct conflict with the more passive strategy favoured by Cabinet Nygaardsvold. The prevailing view in the rest of the Cabinet was to build air and naval forces that could be used directly with Allied forces, as they feared such raids would provoke the Germans into severe punitive actions against the local populace, such as they did after the Telavåg incident. Harstad (Gen. Fleischers gate), Bodø (General Fleischers gate), Bardufoss (General Fleischers veg) and Eiksmarka (General Fleischers vei) all have streets named after the general.